"Hidden Hunter," Cats and Birds

[tbutler]

A number of TheCatSite users were kind enough to chime in and offer advice as I looked at several cats a few weeks back.  As it turned out about the time I posted that, I happened to stop by another no-kill shelter which happened to turn out to be just incredible -- not only in the vast number of cats they have (several hundred), but also how determined they are to constantly interact with them. Their cats are incredibly friendly, by and large.

In their front office they had two buff color tabbies (brothers) -- I didn't pay all that much attention to them at first, but they were so incredibly friendly, they won me over. Everyone there said they were some of the friendliest cats they had ever met and I have to agree. They love being held, sitting on laps and generally being around people. I was a little worried they were too laid back for 10 month olds -- they moved around lazily, didn't seem particularly agile, etc. -- but decided to take the plunge because they seemed like (and, I think are) truly extraordinary in their sweet, laid back personalities. They even seemed to enjoy the ride home! Everything seemed to be perfect until one of them and then the other walked into the room where I have a parakeet. I had wanted to avoid cats who seemed like they might be overly inclined to hunt, but I've had two cats spanning the life of three birds (one at a time) and never had any problems. I was ready for some training issues, but not what transpired next: the one cat was transfixed by the bird and was almost hypnotically focused on getting into the cage. No matter where I took the cat, as soon as I sat down, he bolted back into the room and tried to get in the cage. Then, his brother walked in, spotted the bird and managed to get by me while I was standing by the cage, jumping half way across the room and hanging onto the side of the cage that is suspended from the ceiling.

These gentle, somewhat clumsy cats seemed to suddenly be perfect acrobats with a clearly killer look in their eyes. I know this is something of a natural predator-prey issue, but I don't think I've ever seen cat -- even the best hunters I've met -- seem so focused and so good at executing attacks. Their personalities changed far more than I've seen in other cats who spot prey. In hindsight, looking at their features, I think the cats are part Maine Coon (for whatever reason it didn't dawn on me until they came home) and I've read those cats are particularly adept at hunting. Sadly, in one of the worst tasks I've had to do in a long time, I drove these two lovable, wonderful cats back to the shelter and dropped them off today. I keep envisioning the different spots they had located over their short, two day stay and it just doesn't feel right having returned them... I really wanted to figure out a way to train them, but they were so fast and so focused around the bird cage I simply didn't trust the cage withstanding their attacks while I tried to train them. (And, I didn't want the bird to have a heart attack in the process -- he seemed in shock for several hours after the initial round, after which the room he lives in remained shut with him isolated, but safe. He seemed to know the difference with this attack from times my last cat would accidentally spin my office chair into the cage when he would come tearing into the room.)

I've repeatedly read since this occurred Friday night that kittens raised in households with birds typically handle birds better and I'm wondering if that is the case. While I never would have let the bird out around my past two cats, neither ever even tried (or seemed to want to try) to get in the bird's cage. But, they grew up around one of the birds.

All of this long story leads me to a few questions. First and most importantly, do you think there is truth to the advantage of a kitten over an adult cat in this sort of situation? I really wanted to adopt a cat who was at least near adulthood, but I'm thinking maybe that was a mistake. Second, how much validity is there to peoples' comments that certain breeds are better hunters? Could the increased intensity I saw come from the cat being part of a breed that is said to be good hunters?

Thanks for any insights you might have.

 

[pinkdagger]

I think most cats are inherently strong hunters, but they choose to hunt other things as they become domesticated and grow up - we've taught them to play with specific toys, but if they have the chance, a lot will still watch animals out the window and chirp at them, or chase after flies and butterflies and such. Kittens tend to be a little less discriminating because they just want to play with everything. I don't think it matters when you get a cat, or what breed you get, but you'll need to reinforce what is and isn't appropriate to stalk and hunt because no two homes will do this the same.

My boyfriend thinks that adopting a kitten is the best route to go because then they don't come with bad habits, and you can train your own desired behaviours into them... which I disagree with. If you're willing to put the work into it (which he obviously isn't), you can reinforce and discourage any behaviour you want, at any age. His cat, Mo, used to be indoor/outdoor and hunt some of his own prey. We moved in together when Mo was 9 years old, and within 8 months I've taught him that if he wants to spend time with me in my office and hang out in this "mysterious" room of the apartment, he has to behave. He still glances at the birds, but he knows if he advances, he'll get in trouble and kicked out of the room. I only leave the door open if I have nothing else to do and can devote all of my attention to watching the cats for any signs if interest, even just dilating pupils or tail wags.

Since cat breeds aren't as selective the same way dogs are for specific traits (ie, if you get a border collie, it's going to want to herd. It's known within their breed, and they'll herd other pets, small children, etc. If you get a beagle, it'll use its sniffer and just wander off, and so on...), I'm hard-pressed to say X breed is a stronger hunter than Y. What I think could influence this is the cat's personality and the cat's conditioning.

I have birds as well, so I won't use feather toys or even the beloved Da Bird with my cats because I don't want to build the association that small, flappy, chirpy things are supposed to be fun for them.

If you want some pointers on maintaining peace between your cats and birds, I strongly suggest checking out this page... it's run by someone who has a ton of different pets (cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, fish, and they used to have a bunny and rats I believe - acquired at all ages from baby to senior) and in the several years I've known her, the animals been without incident: http://www.rationalparrot.com/zoosafety.html

 

[tbutler]

Thanks for your input. I'd definitely prefer an adult cat myself and I was certainly prepared to train a cat, the big showstopper for me here was that the one cat managed to get by me and leap on the cage even while I was actively guarding the cage. It was unreal how fast the two of them were once they saw the bird -- I've seen plenty of cats hunt, but in this case it felt almost like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type change in them. Once they were locked in, I'm not sure how you'd even train them. The one leapt at the cage and splashed water all over himself, which I think would have been sort of like getting squirt with a water gun, and he just got right back to the hunt.

What you've said makes me want to go bring the two boys back home -- the shelter seemed open to letting me do so if I came up with a solution -- but they were so much more into hunting that other cats I've been around, I do wonder if they might be a particularly difficult set of cats to put in a house with a bird...

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[pinkdagger]

Yeah, sometimes you can make it work and sometimes it's just not a great fit. Really, you would know best - you can better gauge the comfort of the other animals in the house, how tense the people in the house have to be, and how the cats will be.

I often give our cats a warning if they start going towards the cages, just giving them a relatively quiet, drawn out, sharp "ssssssss" sound, and if they keep going after that, a BIG loud hiss and that's when they get tossed out the door. Though after getting doused with water, if that cat is still going strong, I honestly would be pretty concerned too! Definitely not easily deterred, haha.

Best of luck!

 

[tbutler]

Thanks again! I definitely will try your suggestions, if not with these boys, at least with some other cat down the road...